Peer Instruction, first introduced by Eric Mazur in the late '90s, is a method aiming at active student participation in lectures. It includes conceptual questions (so-called ConcepTests) presented to the students, who vote on answer alternatives presented to them and then discuss their answers in small groups. As professors have been reported to…

The synergy, or lack thereof, between large-scale and classroom assessment has been fiercely debated in both academic and policy spheres for decades around the world. This paper seeks to explicate how different countries are utilizing large-scale testing and test results at the classroom level. Through country profiles, this paper analyzes…

In this chapter, we focus on the German integration course for migrants, the number of which increased rapidly beginning in 2015. The courses are mandated by the German Immigration Act and represent a relatively well-financed and professional course programme within the national adult education system. The main challenges between 2015 and 2018…

Globalisation and policy transfer in education make it incumbent upon decision makers to prioritise among competing policy options, select policy initiatives that are appropriate for their national contexts, and understand how system-specific factors moderate the relationship between those policies and student outcomes. This study used qualitative…

Research across five countries has identified inability to pay attention to mathematical detail -- the discipline of noticing -- is an issue in senior secondary school mathematics teachers. The test and questionnaire completed by an Australian cohort further identifies a reluctance to employ non-routine questions in assessments, with teachers…

Every innovation should be questioned critically in the sense of humanization of education, in particular with regard to the context and overarching objectives for which an innovation is effective. That innovations are not always improvements will be shown on two international examples from the last six decades. In the 1960s, triggered by the…

This paper provides insights in the development of a skill matching test which addresses soft skills integrated videos as media to provide information about situations to be rated. The design of the skill testing and matching tool is situated in the educational ERASMUS+ project SMART which is presented as well. With a specific view on team work…

Although inquiry-based learning is connected with a number of advantages, especially in the field of human geography, very little research has been carried out in lessons by the learners themselves to date. The aim of the study at hand is, therefore, to facilitate the process of solving problems from the sphere of human geography through the use…

PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) is the fourth assessment in the current trend series, following PIRLS 2001, 2006, and 2011. There were 61 participants in PIRLS 2016, including 50 countries and 11 benchmarking entities (e.g., regions of countries as well as additional grades or language groups from the participating…

After consistently bad results in every PISA test (Programme for International Student Assessment) and an accompanying prediction of lack of skills in its future workforce, Germany might be on track for losing out in international competition. Because of PISA's overwhelming marketing presence, its results are a major political influence. The OECD…

In recent years, universities have been increasingly complaining that the basic mathematics skills of new students barely satisfy the requirements of many degree courses. They criticise the high dropout rates, especially in mathematics and natural sciences degrees, and link them to the lack of basic skills of university entrants. Many universities…

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an important cross-national study of 15-year-olds' academic knowledge and skills. Educationalists and public policymakers eagerly await the tri-annual results, with particular interest in whether their country has moved up or slid down the international rankings, as compared to earlier…

To help explain the differences in students' performance on internationally administered science assessments, cross-national, video-based observational studies have been advocated, but none have yet been conducted at the elementary level for science. The USA and Germany are two countries with large formal education systems whose students…

Based on a major international teacher education research project--the Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century Study (MT21)--this book investigates the pre-service preparation of middle school mathematics teachers in the United States, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Bulgaria, and Mexico. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and…

This special issue focuses on findings from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) from Germany, South Africa, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. It consists of five contributions covering a variety of topics and research methodologies. Some articles are primarily descriptive; others focus on relational analyses. (SLD)